I'm wondering how i get the dozen Iomega Zip disks to read on my iMac. I still have my 1996 Perfoma 6400/200 and they are readable on that computer but I can't burn them to the CD becasue it either doesnt work or I'm not doing something properly and i can put them on a USB thumb drive as the computer doesn't read it. What can I do?
iMac 27″ 5K, macOS 10.15
These disks are close to 30 years old, your only hope is to find a Zip drive that is USB and connect that to your Mac. If the Zip drive has a serial connection you can research serial to USB adapters to find something you can connect.
Good luck on the project.
These disks are close to 30 years old, your only hope is to find a Zip drive that is USB and connect that to your Mac. If the Zip drive has a serial connection you can research serial to USB adapters to find something you can connect.
Good luck on the project.
I still have my Zip drive (SCSI) when I used to store my data on them.. (time flies).
I have the SCSI - USB adapter (it cost almost 400 USD now!!) and it did work on both on my 2007 MacMini and XP machine.
I did search on some used (like ebay) -- none of them are cheap.
If you have an old PC -- an internal PCI-SCSI card might be the most economic way to retrieve those data.
I'm sorry. I didn't know that that computer did not have any USB ports. I now think the best bet is the suggestion to use email. Does the old computer have an ethernet connection? That would give you direct access to the internet. If so, then you could install an email app, if you can fine one that is compatible, set it up, and send an email with attachment of the file(s). The ethernet connection should enable you to be connected to the internet using an ethernet cable. I doubt that the old computer would have Wi Fi access to the internet. If it does, then you can use that to access the internet. A couple of email apps you might try are Thunderbird, Airmail, and of course, Apple's Mail app. Good luck with it.
Does the Zip drive have an external power adapter and if so is it plugged in and working? The USB port on the computer will not provide adequate power for the drive to show up on its own.
Thanks, that what I was thinking and I have a working Zip drive and bought a serial to USB cable as well as an adapter that female on both ends since the cable and thumb drive are both males but the Performa doesn’t recognize the thumb drive. Thoughts to make it show up?
Yes, it’s external and plugged in and working fine when connected to the Performa via its original serial cable. And its currently plugged into an outlet with the light on and I heard the read spinning when I inserted a disk. It just doesn’t read as an external drive on my iMac’s screen.
It does have email but it was dial up back in the 90’s. I’ve asked a computer buddy of mine to come by and see if that can be done. Thanks
Do you have a suggestion as to how to connect a flash drive? There’s no USB ports only SCSI. Thanka
I used to use Iomega ZIP disks a lot. I remember that to use the ZIP drive, I had an Iomega app installed. So, just connecting the drive will not work and the old app clearly was a 32 bit app so it likely won't work on your new computer. I suggest using the old computer, which can read the ZIP disks, to copy the files on the ZIP disk to a flash drive and then insert the flash drive into the new computer. Then you can copy those files to wherever you choose. This should be easily done. I hope it works for you.
As the Performa isn't reading your USB drives, does it have functioning email? You could try splitting the files dwon int4o manageable chunks (20MB or below) abd emailing them to yourself.
Or see whether you can set up file Sharing on the Performa (I don't know whether this is possible that far back) so that you can access its file system on the modern computer and copy the files across (you will havew to copy them to the Performa's had disk first).
Goocher88 wrote:
It does have email but it was dial up back in the 90’s. I’ve asked a computer buddy of mine to come by and see if that can be done. Thanks
Mail apps will use whatever connection is available, so if you have one that works with dial-up it will work with ethernet/ You may have to set ethernet up in the eqivalent of the Network press pane - it's been so long that I don't remember how these old systems do it.
Please reset the NVRAM on the iMac after disconnecting the drive, then re-connect - power it on - and keep your fingers crossed.
Converting Iomega Zip Disks over to my iMac
